4 Bee-Keeping Simplified for the 
Drones are the male bees ; they are reared in the early Spring 
which is the natural swarming season. Their sole work is to 
perpetuate the species by mating with the young queens. 
Bulky in appearance and heavy in flight, they are easily 
distinguished. About August, when no longer needed, they 
are killed off. Having no sting they are an easy prey to the 
attacking workers. The presence of drones from October to 
March is an indication of queenlessness, or the presence of 
an unfertilised queen. ; 
Combs, Fig. 3, are made of beeswax, and a small quantity 
of pollen. Wax is not gathered, but is secreted in eight little 
pockets on the under side of the worker bee, Fig. 4. It is 
made from honey; for its secretion the bees gorge them- 
selves with food, and 
then hang in 
festoons in the hive 
perfectly quiet for 
twenty-four hours; 
during that time the 
food is changed by 
chemical action into 
wax, and exudes in 
a liquid state into 
the pockets, where it 
hardens, and is then 
plucked out by 
pincers situated on 
the hind legs, and 
moulded by means of 
the jaws into cells. 
The cells of which the comhs are made up consist of five 
kinds—worker, drone, queen, attachment, and_ transition. 
The worker cells are the smallest, being one fifth of an inch 
between the parallel sides. They are six sided, this being the 
only shape that will fit together without waste of space in 
which a round body can grow. They are built out hori- 
sontally from the midrib, and have a slight upward inclina- 
tion, so that they retain the grub during its growth, and also 
the honey when it is stored. 
Drone cells are larger, being one quarter of an inch between 
the parallel sides; in all other respects they are built in the 
same manner as the workers. : 
Queen cells are only built during the swarming season, or if 
by accident the mother is killed or lost. Instead of being 
horizontal they are pendulous, being about one inch in 
length, one third of an inch in diameter, and have the 
